Green New Deal

The Green New Deal is project proposal that has gained widespread attention as a complete revamp of the economy to address climate change and economic inequality. It involves economic and social reforms to cut carbon emissions, generate electricity from renewable resources, transform industry sectors, and create green jobs. Met with both strong support and opposition, the Green New Deal is a multi-part sustainability program to revive the economy and protect the environment for the future.

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The Green New Deal is loosely based on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal from the Great Depression Era of the 1930s. The New York Times journalist and Pulitzer-Prize winner, Thomas Friedman, popularized the term, Green New Deal, when writing about the challenges of addressing climate change and the need to move away oil and coal to fuel the electricity grid with clean renewables.[1] However, Green New Deal principles have been a topic of discussion among environmentalists since as early as 2003 and were also was used in President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus and in proposals in Europe. Multiple Green Party political candidates have included Green New Deal provisions in their campaign platforms, and the Green New Deal movement gained popularity in the Democratic party after the November 2018 elections.[2]

Some of the major goals of the Green New Deal are transitioning to a 100% clean energy economy, ensuring clean air and water for communities, and making homes, businesses, and the transportation sector more energy-efficient. It simultaneously aims to counteract the effects of societal inequality by creating green jobs, lowering costs for working-class families, and making communities more resilient to climate risks. Key policies included in the Green New Deal involve improving infrastructure, weather-proofing buildings, and spending government money on clean energy solutions.[3]

The transition to 100% renewable energy is based upon the research of Stanford University Professor Mark Z. Jacobson.[4]

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) have been driving forces behind Green New Deal resolutions in the United States Congress, and they released a February 7, 2019 resolution outlining their plan. This plan cited and interpreted the findings of recent reports that addressed how human activity is the cause of climate change, how climate change is causing extreme weather events that threaten our communities, and the devastation that global warming will cause.[5]

Although the resolution had substantial support in Congress, lawmakers have also voiced strong opposition to advancing it, citing reasons of it being too vague, radical, and expensive to implement.

While a Green New Deal resolution has yet to pass in the current political climate, it continues to raise many important issues for debate and consideration about the effects of climate change on America’s future.